U.S. patent number 11,010,946 [Application Number 16/310,887] was granted by the patent office on 2021-05-18 for systems and method for dynamic insertion of advertisements.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Rovi Guides, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Rovi Guides, Inc.. Invention is credited to Radhika Dewan, Vikram Makam Gupta, Susanto Sen.
United States Patent |
11,010,946 |
Sen , et al. |
May 18, 2021 |
Systems and method for dynamic insertion of advertisements
Abstract
Systems and methods are described to detect a location to place
an advertisement in a media asset, the method comprising,
identifying a plurality of points in a video frame of a media
asset, detecting a color associated with each point of the
plurality of points, calculating a change in color between each
point of the plurality of points, comparing the change in color
between each point of the plurality of points with a threshold,
identifying, based on the comparing, an area within the frame that
constitutes a surface; and selecting an advertisement to be placed
on the surface.
Inventors: |
Sen; Susanto (Karnataka,
IN), Dewan; Radhika (Haryana, IN), Gupta;
Vikram Makam (Karnataka, IN) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Rovi Guides, Inc. |
San Jose |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Rovi Guides, Inc. (San Jose,
CA)
|
Family
ID: |
61025054 |
Appl.
No.: |
16/310,887 |
Filed: |
December 21, 2017 |
PCT
Filed: |
December 21, 2017 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/US2017/067983 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
December 18, 2018 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2019/125474 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
June 27, 2019 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20200311992 A1 |
Oct 1, 2020 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06T
7/90 (20170101); H04N 21/44016 (20130101); H04N
21/812 (20130101); G06T 11/60 (20130101); H04N
21/4316 (20130101); H04N 21/44008 (20130101); G06T
7/70 (20170101); G06T 7/60 (20130101); G06V
20/20 (20220101); G06T 2207/10016 (20130101); G06T
2207/10024 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06T
11/60 (20060101); G06T 7/90 (20170101); G06T
7/70 (20170101); G06T 7/60 (20170101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Other References
PCT International Search Report, International Application No.
PCT/US2017/067983, dated May 28, 2018 (16 pages). cited by
applicant .
Vantaram, et al., "Survey of Contemporary Trends in Color Image
Segmentation," Journal of Electronic Imaging, 21(4):40901-1-28
(2012) (29 pages). cited by applicant .
Cheng et al., "Color image segementation based on homogram
thresholding and region merging," Pattern Recognition,
35(2):373-393 (2002). cited by applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Martello; Edward
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Haley Guiliano LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for detecting a surface in a video frame for placing an
advertisement, the method comprising: selecting a first plurality
of points in a video frame of a media asset; detecting a color
associated with each point of the first plurality of points;
selecting a first point in the first plurality of points;
calculating a distance between the first point and other points in
the first plurality of points; selecting a second plurality of
points from the other points in the first plurality of points,
wherein the second plurality of points comprises points within a
threshold distance of the first point; calculating a change in
color between the first point and each point of the second
plurality of points; comparing the calculated change in color
between the selected point and each point in the set of points with
a threshold color change; generating, based on the comparing, a
subset of points that are within the threshold color change;
generating, based on the subset of points, a data structure
representing a surface; selecting, based on the data structure, an
advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for display with the
video frame; and generating for display the advertisement so that
it appears on the surface.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting, based on the data
structure, the advertisement for display with the video frame
comprises: determining a type associated with the surface;
comparing the type associated with the surface with metadata
associated with each advertisement of the plurality of
advertisements; and retrieving the advertisement based on the type
of surface.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining that the
type associated with the surface is associated with a video object
to be displayed on the surface; and modifying the video object to
include the advertisement on the video object.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating for display the
advertisement so that it appears on the surface comprises
generating for display the modified object with the
advertisement.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a type associated
with the surface comprises: retrieving a color range associated
with the surface; comparing the color range with color ranges for
known surfaces; and determining, based on comparing the color range
with the color ranges for known surfaces, the type that matches the
color range.
6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a type associated
with the surface comprises: detecting a shape associated with the
surface; comparing the shape with shapes for known surfaces; and
determining, based on comparing the shape with the shapes for known
surfaces, the type that matches the shape.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first plurality of
points in the video frame of a media asset comprises: detecting a
resolution of the video frame; and selecting the first plurality of
points based on the resolution of the video frame.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a change in color
between the first point and each point of the second plurality of
points comprises: retrieving a first plurality of color values for
a plurality of color components for the first point; retrieving a
second plurality of color values for a second plurality of color
components for a second point, wherein the second point is in the
second plurality of points; comparing each value in the first
plurality of values representing a color of the first point with a
corresponding value in the second plurality of values; and
determining, based on comparing each value in the first plurality
of values representing the color of the first point with the
corresponding value in the second plurality of values, a difference
between each color component; and storing the different between
each color component.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating, based on the subset
of points, the data structure representing a surface comprises:
comparing coordinates within the video frame of each point of the
subset of points with coordinates of other points with the subset
of points; determining based on comparing the coordinates within
the video frame of each point of the subset of points with the
coordinates of other points with the subset of points, edges of the
surface; and storing coordinates of the edges in the data
structure.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving a
plurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent
to the video frame; comparing colors associated with coordinates of
the edges in the data structure with colors associated with
corresponding coordinates within each frame of the plurality of
frames; determining, for each frame of the plurality of frames and
based on comparing the colors associated with coordinates of the
edges in the data structure with the colors associated with
corresponding coordinates within each frame of the plurality of
frames, whether the colors associated with each coordinate of the
edges in the data structure matches the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame; adding the
advertisement to those frames where the colors associated with each
coordinate of the edges in the data structure matches the colors
associated with a respective coordinate associated with the video
frame; and refraining from adding the advertisement to those frames
where the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges in
the data structure does not match the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame.
11. A system to detect a location to place an advertisement in a
media asset, the system comprising: control circuitry configured
to: select a first plurality of points in a video frame of a media
asset; detect a color associated with each point of the first
plurality of points; select a first point in the first plurality of
points; calculate a distance between the first point and other
points in the first plurality of points; select a second plurality
of points from the other points in the first plurality of points,
wherein the second plurality of points comprises points within a
threshold distance of the first point; calculate a change in color
between the first point and each point of the second plurality of
points; compare the calculated change in color between the selected
point and each point in the set of points with a threshold color
change; generate, based on the comparing, a subset of points that
are within the threshold color change; generate, based on the
subset of points, a data structure representing a surface; select,
based on the data structure, an advertisement of a plurality of
advertisements for display with the video frame; and generate for
display the advertisement so that it appears on the surface.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when selecting, based on the data structure,
the advertisement for display with the video frame, to: determine a
type associated with the surface; compare the type associated with
the surface with metadata associated with each advertisement of the
plurality of advertisements; and retrieve the advertisement based
on the type of surface.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured to: determine that the type associated with the
surface is associated with a video object to be displayed on the
surface; and modify the video object to include the advertisement
on the video object.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry
configured to generate for display the advertisement so that it
appears on the surface is further configured to generate for
display the modified object with the advertisement.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when determining a type associated with the
surface to: retrieve a color range associated with the surface;
compare the color range with color ranges for known surfaces; and
determine, based on comparing the color range with the color ranges
for known surfaces, the type that matches the color range.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when determining a type associated with the
surface to: detect a shape associated with the surface; compare the
shape with shapes for known surfaces; and determine, based on
comparing the shape with the shapes for known surfaces, the type
that matches the shape.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when selecting the first plurality of points in
the video frame of a media asset to: detect a resolution of the
video frame; and select the first plurality of points based on the
resolution of the video frame.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when generating, based on the subset of points,
the data structure representing a surface to: compare coordinates
within the video frame of each point of the subset of points with
coordinates of other points with the subset of points; determine
based on comparing the coordinates within the video frame of each
point of the subset of points with the coordinates of other points
with the subset of points, edges of the surface; and store
coordinates of the edges in the data structure.
19. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is
further configured, when calculating a change in color between the
first point and each point of the second plurality of points to:
retrieve a first plurality of color values for a plurality of color
components for the first point; retrieve a second plurality of
color values for a second plurality of color components for a
second point, wherein the second point is in the second plurality
of points; compare each value in the first plurality of values
representing a color of the first point with a corresponding value
in the second plurality of values; and determine, based on
comparing each value in the first plurality of values representing
the color of the first point with the corresponding value in the
second plurality of values, a difference between each color
component; and store the different between each color
component.
20. The system of claim 11, further configured to: retrieve a
plurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent
to the video frame; compare colors associated with coordinates of
the edges in the data structure with colors associated with
corresponding coordinates within each frame of the plurality of
frames; determine, for each frame of the plurality of frames and
based on comparing the colors associated with coordinates of the
edges in the data structure with the colors associated with
corresponding coordinates within each frame of the plurality of
frames, whether the colors associated with each coordinate of the
edges in the data structure matches the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame; add the
advertisement to those frames where the colors associated with each
coordinate of the edges in the data structure matches the colors
associated with a respective coordinate associated with the video
frame; and refrain from adding the advertisement to those frames
where the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges in
the data structure does not match the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn. 371 of International Application PCT/US2017/067983, filed
Dec. 21, 2017 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in
its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An amount of content consumed by viewers has grown exponentially
and so have advertisement opportunities. Traditionally,
advertisements have been inserted between segments of programs.
However, in many situations that is not an optimal approach because
viewers are able to change the channel or leave the room in order
to avoid viewing the advertisement. Current systems have solved
this problem by enabling users to mark spaces (e.g., surfaces) in
video frames where advertisements can be inserted later on, thereby
solving the problem of users changing channels or leaving the room.
However, this process is very time consuming and inefficient
because programs have hundreds of thousands of frames. For example,
a two-hour movie can have 144,000 frames. Even if it takes a minute
to mark up a frame, or even two frames, the time and effort to
perform the mark-up is almost prohibitive.
SUMMARY
Accordingly, systems and methods are provided herein for
dynamically identifying surface(s) in a video frame suitable for
inserting advertisements. For example, a media guidance application
associated with a user device (e.g., a set-top box) may be
configured to detect an ocean surface in a scene of the movie
"Titanic" and may be further programmed to insert an advertisement
on the ocean surface while the user is consuming that media
asset.
The described method of dynamically inserting advertisements into
frames of a media asset may detect a surface in the media asset
where an advertisement may be inserted. The detection of the
surface enables a media guidance application to insert an
advertisement in a location that does not interfere with the
content of the scene or diminish the viewing experience of the user
in any way.
In some aspects, the media guidance application may identify a
location (e.g., a surface) to place an advertisement in a media
asset. The media guidance application may select a first plurality
of points in a video frame of a media asset. For example, the media
guidance application may divide a frame from the movie "Titanic"
that is about to be displayed into a plurality of regions based on
a predetermined algorithm. Each region may be a square that is
adjacent to other regions (other squares) that make up the area of
the frame. The media guidance application may identify one or more
points that may be inside of each region (e.g., each square) or the
points may be at the intersections of the lines that make up each
square.
The media guidance application may detect a color associated with
each point of the first plurality of points. For example, the media
guidance application may determine that a first point from a
portion of the frame to be displayed may be "blue" in color and a
second point in the frame may be "black" in color. The color of the
points may depend on the objects on the screen that the point may
be associated with. For example, various parts of the ship
"Titanic" may have different colors (e.g., white, yellow, and other
suitable colors, while the water, if depicted in the frame, may be
blue or a shade of blue).
The various parts of the ship "Titanic" in the video frame may have
different colors (e.g., white, yellow, black, and other suitable
colors), while the water may be blue or a shade of blue. The ship
may have various parts that have different colors. For example, the
hull of the ship may be black in color, while the chimney stacks
may be yellow and the deck of the ship may be white. The smoke
emerging from the chimney stacks may be a shade of gray. The
background of the video frame is sky, that may be blue (during the
day), black (during the night), or different shades of orange and
yellow (during the dawn and dusk). The clouds in the sky may be
colored accordingly. Thus, the points associated with the various
objects of the video frame 102, may be of different colors.
The media guidance application may process each point on the frame
to determine color and surface corresponding to each point. The
media guidance application may begin the iteration process by
selecting a first point in the first plurality of points. The
selection of the point may be based on the iteration process. For
example, the media guidance application may start the iteration
with a top-right corner and proceed in a clockwise direction. It
should be noted that different starting points may be used in this
process.
The media guidance application may calculate a distance between the
first point and other points in the first plurality of points. For
example, the media guidance application may select a first point in
a frame of a movie "Titanic" that depicts the ocean as part of the
frame". Other points in the first plurality of points may include
points directly connected to the first point, or at a certain
distance from the first point.
The media guidance application may select a second plurality of
points from the other points in the first plurality of points,
where the second plurality of points include points within a
threshold distance of the first point. For example, within the
first plurality of points, the media guidance application may
determine points that are within a predetermined threshold distance
from the first point. In some examples, the distance may be
measured in terms of the number of points between the first point
and a second point. Based on the calculation of distance of each
point in the first plurality of points from the first point, the
media guidance application may determine a second plurality of
points that are within the predetermined threshold distance from
the first point.
The media guidance application may calculate a change in color
between the different selected points. Specifically, the media
guidance application may calculate a change in color between the
first point and each point of the set second plurality of points.
For example, the media guidance application may determine that the
first point in the video frame is "blue" in color and that other
points in the set of the second plurality of points have a color
that is a shade of "blue."
Similarly, the media guidance application may determine that points
in the second plurality of points that are within a threshold
distance from the first point may be of "blue", "black", or other
colors that are a part of the video frame. In some embodiments, the
media guidance application may represent colors using predefined
encoding mechanisms, like the RGB encoding where each value of the
red, blue, and green color ranges from 0 to 255. The media guidance
application may calculate a change in color of the points in the
second plurality of points from the first point.
The media guidance application may calculate a change in color
based on the values of the encoded color. In some embodiments, the
media guidance application may determine a change in color by
computing a difference in the encoded color values.
The media guidance application may group together the points that
are within a predetermined threshold color change. Particularly,
the media guidance application may generate, based on the
comparing, a subset of points that are within the threshold color
change. For example, the media guidance application may group
points in the second plurality of points based on the computed
color difference between a plurality of points. When the computed
difference in the color of the points is less than a predetermined
threshold, the point is grouped along with the first point. For
example, if the surface being processed is an ocean (e.g., water),
the media guidance application may group all points together that
constitute a surface of the ocean.
The media guidance application may generate a data structure of a
surface using the grouped points. Particularly, the media guidance
application may generate, based on the subset of points, a data
structure representing a surface. For example, the media guidance
application may associate the grouped together points in the second
plurality of points to represent a surface.
The media guidance application may select an advertisement to be
placed on the identified surface. Particularly, the media guidance
application may select, based on the data structure representing
the surface, an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for
display with the video frame. For example, the media guidance
application may determine, from a set of advertisements, the most
suitable advertisement to be placed on the determined surface. For
example, if the surface is water (e.g., an ocean), the media
guidance application may select a ship and store the ship in memory
with an advertisement to be placed on the ship's hull.
The media guidance application may generate the selected
advertisement for display. Particularly, the media guidance
application may generate for display the advertisement so that it
appears on the surface. For example, the media guidance application
may display the selected advertisement on an ocean surface
determined in a video frame of the movie "Titanic" by the media
guidance application, when the particular frame is displayed on the
screen of the user device. For example, the media guidance
application may generate for display the ship with the
advertisement on the ship's hull.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select an
appropriate advertisement for the surface by determining a type
associated with the surface. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may determine a type associated with the
surface. For example, the type of the surface may be an object in
the video frame like "ocean", "wall", "ship", or "sky".
The media guidance application may compare the type associated with
the surface with metadata associated with each advertisement of the
plurality of advertisements. For example, the media guidance
application may compare the determined type of surface with
metadata associated with advertisements in the set of
advertisements.
The media guidance application may retrieve an advertisement based
on the type of surface. For example, the media guidance application
may determine that the type associated with the surface in a frame
is "a body of water" or "ocean". The media guidance application may
search through the metadata of the available advertisements and
select an advertisement that has some relation to the "ocean" or
"water". Some examples of advertisements relating to water may be
advertisements that contain a water vehicle (e.g., a yacht,
jet-ski, boat, ship or another suitable advertisement).
Additionally or alternatively, the advertisement may be for an
activity relating to water like scuba-diving or snorkeling,
etc.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine
an object associated with the type of surface before inserting the
advertisement. For example, as described above, the media guidance
application may determine that the object of "water" may be
associated with an "ocean" object in a video frame of the movie
"Titanic". In another example, the media guidance application may
determine that the sky may be associated with particular colors
(e.g., light colors during day time and dark colors during night
time).
The media guidance application may modify the video object to
include the determined advertisement on the video object. In some
embodiments, if an advertisement is to be displayed on the ocean
surface, the media guidance application may modify the data
structure associated with the surface to include the advertisement.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate
for display, the object modified with the advertisement on the user
display device.
The media guidance application may detect a type of the surface by
detecting a color associated with the surface. In some embodiments,
the media guidance application may retrieve a color range
associated with the surface. For example, the media guidance
application may determine that the color of the surface may range
from a dark blue to navy blue, based on different values of encoded
color.
The media guidance application may compare the color range with
color ranges for known surfaces, and may determine, based on
comparing the color range with the color ranges for known surfaces,
the type that matches the color range. For example, the media
guidance application may determine that the detected color range of
a dark blue to a navy blue corresponds to colors associated with a
water body.
The media guidance application determines a type of the surface by
determining a shape associated with the surface. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a shape
associated with the surface. For example, the shapes associated
with a surface may be, a "plane", a "circle", a "rectangle", and
others.
The media guidance application may compare the shape with shapes
for known surfaces and may determine, based on comparing the shape
with the shapes for known surfaces, the type that matches the
shape. For example, the media guidance application may determine
that the detected surface is associated with the shape of water
waves, and therefore, the surface is an ocean in a frame of the
movie "Titanic".
The media guidance application may divide the video into regions
based on a resolution of the video. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may detect a resolution of the video frame and
may select the first plurality of points based on the resolution of
the video frame. For example, the media guidance application may
determine a resolution of the screen in order to determine the
number of regions the screen may be divided into. In some examples,
a greater number of regions that the screen may be divided into may
lead to a greater number of points for analysis.
The media guidance application may calculate a change in color
between various points associated with the first point. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve a first
plurality of color values for a plurality of color components for
the first point. For example, the media guidance application may
determine the value of various color components associated with the
first point. The media guidance application may determine the
values for the red, green, and blue components of the colors for
the first point.
The media guidance application may retrieve a second plurality of
color values for a second plurality of color components for a
second point, where the second point is in the second plurality of
points. For example, similar to the first point, the media guidance
application may determine the value of various color components
associated with a second point. The media guidance application may
determine the values for the red, green, and blue components of the
colors for the second point. The second point may be within a
predetermined threshold distance from the first point.
The media guidance application may compare each value in the first
plurality of values representing a color of the first point with a
corresponding value in the second plurality of values and may
determine, based on comparing each value in the first plurality of
values representing the color of the first point with the
corresponding value in the second plurality of values, a difference
between each color component and may store the difference between
each color component.
For example, the media guidance application may compare the
determined color components of a first point and the determined
color components of the second point by comparing each color
component individually. In some examples, the media guidance
application may compare the red, blue, and green values of the
first point and the second point. The media guidance application
may store the difference in the color components of the first and
the second points.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare
coordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset of
points with coordinates of other points with the subset of points.
For example, the media guidance application may determine a first
coordinate of the first point and compare the first coordinate with
coordinates of the set of points that constitute a surface.
The media guidance application, based on comparing the coordinates,
may determine edges of the surface and store coordinates of the
edges in the data structure. For example, the media guidance
application may determine the coordinates of the points that
constitute the edges of the surface and store the coordinate of the
edges.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve a
plurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent
to the video frame. For example, the media guidance application may
process frames of a movie "Titanic" subsequent to the current
frames that are about to be displayed on the user device.
The media guidance application may compare colors associated with
coordinates of the edges in the data structure with colors
associated with corresponding cording within each frame of the
plurality of frames. For example, the media guidance application
may extract colors of the previously determined edges of the
surface in the frames subsequent to the frame being displayed on
the user device. In such examples, the media guidance application
may also determine colors of other points of the surface in frames
subsequent to the frames being displayed on the user device.
The media guidance application may determine, for each frame of the
plurality of frames and based on comparing the colors associated
with coordinates of the edges in the data structure with the colors
associated with corresponding cording within each frame of the
plurality of frames, whether the colors associated with each
coordinate of the edges in the data structure match the colors
associated with a respective coordinate associated with the video
frame.
The media guidance application may add the advertisement to those
frames where the colors associated with each coordinate of the
edges in the data structure match the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame.
The media guidance application may refrain from adding the
advertisement to those frames where the colors associated with each
coordinate of the edges in the data structure does not match the
colors associated with a respective coordinate associated with the
video frame.
For example, the media guidance application may determine points
that constitute edges of a surface and points that constitute the
center of a surface. The media guidance application may determine
whether the color of the points at the center changes from the
color of the points at the edges for more than a predetermined
threshold.
The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to
the video frame being displayed on the user device, to determine
for how long the color on the edges of the detected surface of
"water" in the frames matches the color of the points in the center
of the surface of "water". The media guidance application may
determine how long the color on the edges of the detected surface
is similar to the color of the points in the center by determining
a number of frames for which the difference in color stays below a
predetermined threshold. In some examples, the media guidance
application may determine that a difference in color may be below a
threshold difference for 50 frames which is greater than a
predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upon determining that the
color difference between the points at the center and the points at
the edges is below a predetermined threshold of difference for a
predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the selected
advertisement is inserted on that surface of the "water" in frames
of the movie "Titanic". In case the color difference is not below a
particular threshold for the particular predetermined threshold of
time (25 frames), the advertisement is not inserted on the surface
as that may interrupt content important for the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will
be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed
description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout,
and in which:
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of identifying a surface in a
video frame of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure;
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that
may be used to provide media guidance application listings and
other media guidance information, in accordance with some
embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen
that may be used to provide media guidance application listings, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE)
device, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
dynamically inserting advertisements in a media asset, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 7 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process for
dynamically inserting advertisements in a media asset, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
determining a type of surface in a video frame of a media asset and
displaying an advertisement based on the determined type of
surface, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;
and
FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
determining whether to add advertisements to video frames of a
media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Systems and methods are provided herein for dynamically identifying
a surface in a video frame suitable for inserting advertisements.
For example, a media guidance application associated with a user
device (e.g., a set-top box) may be configured to detect an ocean
surface in a scene of a movie and may be further configured to
insert an advertisement on the ocean surface while the user is
consuming that media asset.
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of identifying a surface in a
video frame of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments
of the disclosure. FIG. 1 contains a depiction of a video frame
102. Video frame 104 is a first exemplary depiction where the media
guidance application has identified a surface 106 for an
advertisement in video frame of the movie "Titanic". Video frame
108 is a second exemplary depiction of an identified surface 110 to
insert an advertisement in the video frame 108. The number of
surfaces depicted in video frames 104 and 108 are for exemplary
purposes only. In some embodiments, the media guidance application
may identify multiple surfaces for advertisements in a video frame
(e.g., video frame 102).
In order to determine a suitable surface in a video frame of a
media asset for advertisement placement, the media guidance
application may select a first plurality of points in a video frame
102 of a media asset. In some embodiments, the media guidance
application may divide video frame 102, that is about to be
displayed into a plurality of regions based on a predetermined
algorithm. In some embodiments, the predetermined algorithm may
require the media guidance application to divide video frame 102
into squares of multiple regions where each region may be a square
that is adjacent to other regions (e.g., other squares) that make
up the area of the frame. The media guidance application may
identify, to be included in the plurality of points, one or more
points that may be inside of each region (e.g., each square) or the
points may be at the intersections of the lines that make up each
square. For example, in the case that a square in video frame 102
is surrounded by squares on all four sides, all four points of the
square, where the surrounding squares intersect the selected
square, are selected. Similarly, if the square in video frame 102
is surrounded by squares only on two sides, only two or three
points, where the surrounding squares intersect the selected square
interact, are selected.
In some embodiments, the predetermined algorithm may require the
media guidance application to divide frame 102 into regions of
concentric circles where the radius of each circle is progressively
larger. The media guidance application may identify one or more
points that may be within the perimeter of some of the concentric
circles or points that may be on the perimeter of some of the
concentric circles to be the first plurality of points.
In some embodiments, the predetermined algorithm that divides video
frame 102 into multiple regions may factor in at least one of a
resolution of the media asset and a resolution of the user device
the media asset is being consumed on. The media guidance
application may detect a resolution of the video frame and may
select the first plurality of points based on the resolution of the
video frame.
For example, the number of square or circular regions that video
frame 102 may be divided in may depend on the resolution of the
media asset and the resolution of the user device. In some
examples, a higher resolution denotes a higher number of regions
that video frame 102 may be divided into which will provide more
points for analyzing the video frame.
The predetermined algorithms described herein are for exemplary
purposes only. The media guidance application may contain other
predetermined algorithms that divide the frame 102 into regions in
different patterns and select points of the frame for detecting a
surface to place an advertisement.
The media guidance application may process the first plurality of
points detected in video frame 102. The media guidance application
may detect a color associated with each point of the first
plurality of points. For example, the media guidance application
may determine that a first point, from a portion of video frame 102
to be displayed, may be "blue" in color and a second point in video
frame 102 may be "black" in color. The color of the points may
depend on the objects on the screen that the point may be
associated with. The media guidance application may retrieve from
memory color values associated with the first plurality of
points.
The media guidance application may determine the colors of the
first plurality of points using a predetermined color encoding
scheme. An example of a color encoding scheme is the "RGB" scheme
where color information relating to each pixel in video frame 102
may be stored as three-color components, Red, Green, and Blue. The
red, green, and blue color components are added together in various
ways to reproduce different colors. In this scheme, the colors are
represented in the form of the intensities of the red, blue, and
green lights that compose the color. The values of the intensities
of the red, green, and blue, are represented as a value between 0
and 255 respectively. For example, the color orange may be
represented as 255 160 0.
Another example of a color encoding scheme is the CMYK color model.
The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model using cyan,
magenta, yellow and key (black). Colors represented by this
encoding scheme are represented by percentage of cyan, magenta,
yellow and black in them. For example, the color orange in the CMYK
scheme may be represented as CMYK (0%, 35%, 100%, 0%). Based on the
encoding, the color value of each value of the first plurality of
values may be determined and stored in memory by the media guidance
application.
The media guidance application may iterate through each point in
the first plurality of points of video frame 102 to determine
positional information related to each point in the first plurality
of points. Contextual information may include, color, type of
surface, and duration that the color and type of surface stay
constant for the point. The media guidance application may begin
the iteration process by selecting a first point in the first
plurality of points. The selection of the point may be based on the
iteration process. For example, the media guidance application may
start the iteration with a top-right corner and proceed in a
clockwise direction. It should be noted that different starting
points may be used in this process. In some embodiments, the
selection of the first point in the first plurality of points may
be dependent on the shapes that video frame 102 is divided in. For
example, if video frame 102 is divided in concentric circles, the
media guidance application may select the first point in the
plurality of points to be the point closest to the common center of
video frame 102 and the concentric circles.
The media guidance application may calculate a distance between the
first point and other points in the first plurality of points. For
example, the media guidance application may select a first point in
video frame 102 where the first point is part of a portion of video
frame 102 that contains an ocean. Other points in the first
plurality of points may include points in direct proximity to the
first point or at a certain distance from the first point. For
example, some points may be in direct proximity to the first point
in the ocean in video frame 102 and may be part of the hull of the
ship close to the ocean. In some examples, some points connected to
the first point in the ocean in video frame 102 may be part of the
background sky. In some embodiments, the media guidance application
may compute a distance between the first point and all the other
points in the first plurality of points.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compute a
distance between the first point and other points in the first
plurality of points up to a certain distance from the first point.
For example, the media guidance application may not compute a
distance between the first point and any point that is more than
half the horizontal resolution of the total frame (x/2) away from
the first point.
Based on the distances computed between the first point and other
points in the first plurality of points, the media guidance
application may select a second plurality of points, where the
second plurality of points includes points within a predetermined
threshold distance of the first point. For example, within the
first plurality of points, the media guidance application may
determine points that are within a predetermined threshold distance
from the first point.
In some examples, the distance may be measured in terms of the
number of points between the first point and a second point. Based
on the calculation of distance of each point in the first plurality
of points from the first point, the media guidance application may
determine a second plurality of points that are within the
predetermined threshold distance from the first point. For example,
the second plurality of points may include points in the first
plurality of points that are less than three points away from the
first point.
In some embodiments, the threshold distance may be measured based
on the size of the frame. For example, the threshold distance may
be configured to be x/10, where x is the horizontal resolution of
video frame 102. All points in the first plurality of points, that
are within the predetermined threshold distance away from the first
point, may be selected to be the second plurality of points.
The media guidance application may calculate a change in color
between the points in the second plurality of points. Specifically,
the media guidance application may calculate a change in color
between the first point and each point of the second plurality of
points. For example, the media guidance application may determine
that the first point in video frame 102 is "blue" (RGB: 0 0 255) in
color and that other points in the set of the second plurality of
points have a color that is a shade of "blue" namely "steel blue"
(RGB: 70 130 180). The first point may be a point in the water
region of video frame 102. Other points in the second plurality of
points in video frame 102 may be in the water region, on the hull
of the ship, or in the background of the sky. The points in the
second plurality of points may be within a predetermined threshold
distance from the first point.
The media guidance application may calculate a change in color
between the points in the second plurality of points and the first
point based on the values of the encoded color. For example, in
case the colors are encoded in the RGB encoding scheme, the media
guidance application may compute a difference in the red, blue, and
green values of two points separately. The media guidance
application, may compute a change in color between the first point
(blue color of the ocean, RGB value 0 255 0) and a second point in
the second plurality of points (black, of the hull, RGB value 0 0
0).
The media guidance application may group together the points that
are within a predetermined threshold color change. Particularly,
the media guidance application may generate, based on the
comparing, a subset of points that are within the threshold color
change. For example, the media guidance application may group
points in the second plurality of points based on the computed
color difference between a plurality of points. For example, if the
colors are encoded in the RGB encoding, the media guidance
application may compute a difference in the red, blue, and green
values of two points separately, and the difference of each of the
red, green, and blue values may be required to be below the
predetermined threshold (e.g., red values within two percent, green
values with two percent, and blue values within two percent). In
some embodiments, the difference of only a subset of the red,
green, and blue values may be required to be within a predetermined
threshold. The selection of the subset of red, green, and blue may
be based on the characteristics of the screen, or the red, green,
and blue values themselves. In some embodiments, the media guidance
application may store the boundary RGB values for colors that are
similar to each other. For example, the different shades of
turquoise may have RGB values close to each other, and the media
guidance application may only compute a difference in the green and
blue components of various turquoise colors as the turquoise shades
do not have a red component. For example, a first shade of
turquoise has RGB value 0 245 255 and a second shade of turquoise
has RGB value 0 229 238. In comparison of these two shades, the
media guidance application may not compare the red values.
Additionally, the media guidance application may store such colors
as "edge colors" for future comparisons.
When the computed difference in the color of the points is less
than a predetermined threshold, the point may be grouped along with
the first point. The media guidance application may compute a
change in color in the values of the first point (blue color of the
ocean, RGB value 0 0 255), and a second point in the second
plurality of points (black, of the hull, RGB value 0 0 0). While
the red and green values of the two colors are the same (0), there
is a difference in the blue value of the first point and the other
point. The media guidance application may set the threshold
difference of color to be 10 units. As the blue value of the colors
differ by more than 10 units, the two points may not be grouped
together. In some embodiments, a unit may correspond to a value on
the RGB scale. For example, a color with RGB value 240 40 233 has
200 units of red, 40 units of green and 233 units of blue. In some
embodiments, the threshold may be set based on a percentage value
of the color change. For example, the media guidance application
may configure the threshold difference between the color of the
first point from the second point to be only 1%.
In video frame 102, the first point may show? part of the ocean and
have blue color (RGB: 0 0 255), and the media guidance application
may group all points together that have a similar color as that of
the first point. For example, the media guidance application may
determine that points that are part of the hull (black in color,
RGB 0 0 0), or points that are part of the background sky
(different shade of black like gray, RGB: 11 11 11), may have
colors that are different from the first point in the ocean by more
than a predetermined threshold (10 units).
Therefore, the media guidance application may group the first point
with points of the ocean that are within a predetermined color
threshold (10) of the first point, based on the difference in color
computed between the first point and other points in the second
plurality of points.
The media guidance application may generate a data structure of a
surface using the grouped points. Particularly, the media guidance
application may generate, based on the subset of points, a data
structure representing a surface. For example, the media guidance
application may associate the grouped points in the second
plurality of points to represent a surface. The grouped points may
be stored as a multidimensional array of encoded color values, an
object of a surface class, or another suitable data structure. The
data structure of the grouped points may be stored in a memory
associated with the media guidance application.
The media guidance application may select an advertisement to be
placed on the surface represented by the data structure comprising
the grouped points. Particularly, the media guidance application
may select, based on the data structure representing the surface,
an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for display with
the video frame. For example, the media guidance application may
determine, from a set of advertisements, the most suitable
advertisement to be placed on the determined surface. For example,
if the surface is water (e.g., an ocean), the media guidance
application may select a ship and store the ship in memory with an
advertisement to be placed on the water.
In some embodiments, the process of selecting an appropriate
advertisement for the determined surface includes determining a
type associated with the surface. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may determine a type associated with the
surface. For example, the type of the surface may be an object in
the video frame like "ocean", "wall", "ship", or "sky".
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a
type of the surface by detecting a color associated with the
surface. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may
retrieve a color range associated with the surface. For example,
the media guidance application may determine that the color of
surface 106 in video frame 104 may range from a light blue to blue
based on different values of encoded color.
The media guidance application may compare the color range of
surface 106 with color ranges for known surfaces, and may
determine, based on comparing the color range with the color ranges
for known surfaces, the type that matches the color range. For
example, the media guidance application may determine that the
detected color range (RGB: 0 178 238 (deep sky blue)--RGB: 178 223
238 (light blue)) corresponds to colors associated with the
sky.
The media guidance application may determine a type of the surface
by determining a shape associated with the surface. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a shape
associated with the surface. For example, the shapes associated
with a surface may be, a "plane", a "circle", a "rectangle", and
others. The media guidance application may determine a shape of a
cloud in surface 106 of video frame 104. For example, the media
guidance application may have standard shapes stored in memory,
where different shapes are stored using different methods. A circle
may be stored using a center and a radius. In order to determine
whether a certain point is part of a circle, the media guidance
application may determine if there are a threshold number of points
diametrically opposite each other in the group of points that
constitute the surface. In case the number of points diametrically
opposite each other are above a certain predetermined threshold,
the media guidance application may determine that the surface has a
circular shape.
The media guidance application may compare the shape with shapes
for known surfaces and may determine, based on comparing the shape
with the shapes for known surfaces, the type that matches the
shape. For example, the media guidance application may determine
that the detected surface is associated with the shape of clouds,
and therefore, surface 106 in video frame 104 is part of a sky. In
some embodiments, the media guidance application may have shapes
stored in memory that constitute clouds, and the media guidance
application may compare the stored shape of clouds to the group of
points constituting the surface to determine whether the surface is
a cloud.
The media guidance application may compare the type associated with
the surface with metadata associated with each advertisement of the
plurality of advertisements. For example, the media guidance
application may compare the determined type of the surface 106
(sky) with metadata associated with advertisements in the set of
advertisements. For example, the type associated with the ocean in
video frame 102 may be water.
The media guidance application may retrieve an advertisement based
on the type of surface. For example, the media guidance application
may determine that the type associated with surface 106 in video
frame 104 is "sky". The media guidance application may search
through the metadata of the available advertisements and select an
advertisement that has some relation to the "sky". The metadata
associated with advertisements may contain tags associated with the
content of advertisements. For example, the metadata associated
with an advertisement of a plane may contain words like plane,
sky-writer, or blimp to describe advertisements. The media guidance
application may determine that these advertisements are associated
with the sky and may be shown on surface 106 of video frame
104.
Similarly, the media guidance application may determine that
surface 110 in video frame 108 is the "ocean". The media guidance
application may make this determination by comparing the color of
surface 110 ("ocean") with known color ranges and the shape of the
waves with known shapes. Upon determining that surface 110 is of
the type "ocean", the media guidance application may search the
metadata of available advertisements for advertisements that are
most appropriate to be displayed on surface 110 ("ocean") in video
frame 108. Some examples of advertisements relating to water may be
advertisements that contain a water vehicle (e.g., a yacht,
jet-ski, boat, ship or another suitable advertisement).
Additionally or alternatively, the advertisement may be for an
activity relating to water (e.g., scuba-diving, snorkeling, or
another suitable activity).
The media guidance application may generate the selected
advertisement for display. Particularly, the media guidance
application may generate for display the advertisement so that it
appears on the surface. For example, the media guidance application
may display the selected advertisement on an ocean surface
determined in a video frame 102, when the particular frame is
displayed on the screen of the user device. For example, the media
guidance application may retrieve an advertisement from a set of
advertisements available in memory based on the determined type of
surface. The media guidance application overlays the retrieved
advertisement on the determined surface at the appropriate
coordinates. In some embodiments, the determined surface may be
part of a moving object (e.g. car, ship, plane), and the
coordinates for placing the advertisement may be updated to match
with the changing coordinates of the moving surface.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine
an object associated with the type of surface before inserting the
advertisement. For example, as described above, the media guidance
application may determine that the surface 110 ("ocean") may be
associated with a "water" object in video frame 108.
The media guidance application may modify the video object to
include the determined advertisement on the video object. In some
embodiments, if an advertisement is to be displayed on surface 110,
the media guidance application may modify the data structure
associated with the surface to include the advertisement. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may generate for
display, the object modified with the advertisement on the user
display device. For example, the media guidance application may
modify the multidimensional array or the object of class surface to
include an indication of the advertisement that is to be displayed
on the surface 106 or 110 when video frame 104 or 108 is displayed
on the user device.
The media guidance application may determine the boundaries of
surfaces 106 and 110 by comparing coordinates of points within
surface 106 or 110. For example, the media guidance application may
determine a first coordinate of the first point and compare the
first coordinate with coordinates of the set of points that
constitute a surface.
The media guidance application may, based on comparing the
coordinates, determine the left most edge, the right most edge, the
topmost edge and the bottom most edge of the surface. The media
guidance application may store the determined edges of the surface,
and store coordinates of the edges in the data structure. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may compare the
coordinates of the various points grouped together to form a
surface and determine the coordinate that is the lowest and highest
value for each index. For example, the media guidance application
may compare points having coordinates (0,0), (1, 5), (5, 0), (5,
1), and determine that for the first index (e.g. x-axis), to the
lowest value is 0 and the highest value is 1. These points
constitute the edge on the first index. Similarly, the media
guidance application may determine that the highest and lowest
value for the points on the second index (e.g. y-axis) are 0 and 1.
Coordinates of points having an extreme value in at least one(?) of
the indexes would constitute a point on the edge of the
surface.
In some embodiments, the edges of the surface may not be
perpendicular to each other. For example, the detected surface may
be a triangle with lines that may not be perpendicular to the axis
of video frame 102. In such cases, the media guidance application
may first determine the furthest most points of the surface as the
vertices of the surface. The media guidance application may then
determine points on lines that join the edges by comparing the
vertices of the furthest most point of x index for each y value and
vice versa. For example, the surface may be composed of points (5,
5), (0, 0), (6, 1), (2, 4). In this example, the media guidance
application may determine that the highest and lowest points on the
first index (x-axis) are 0 and 6. For each value on the first index
between 0 and 6, the media guidance application may determine the
values of the second index that are highest and lowest, and
therefore, constitute the edges of the surface. In this example,
point (2,4) is part of the edge of the surface as it has the
highest value of the second index (4) at the value 2 of the first
index. The media guidance application may determine and store the
determined edges of a surface in the multidimensional array
representing the surface or may store the edge coordinates as part
of the object of the surface class. Surfaces of various shapes may
have their boundaries represented differently. For example, for a
circular surface, the media guidance application may just store
center coordinates and a radius.
In some embodiments, to determine whether surface 106 or 110 is
suitable for placing an advertisement, the media guidance
application may determine the length of time for which surface 106
or 110 may remain on the screen of the user device. The length of
time may be determined in terms of the number of video frames for
which the surface is present. In some embodiments, the media
guidance application may determine a length of time for a surface
by determining the number of seconds for which the surface 106 or
110 is present on the screen of the user device. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may determine the
number of seconds based on the number of video frames being
displayed on the screen per second or using a different unit of
video frame consumption.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve a
plurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent
to the video frame. The plurality of frames retrieved may be based
on the rate of consumption of the video frames. In some
embodiments, the number of video frames retrieved may represent the
least amount for which a surface must be present in order to place
an advertisement. The media guidance application may process the
video frames subsequent to the current frame (e.g., frame 102) that
is about to be displayed on the user device.
The media guidance application may compare colors associated with
coordinates of the edges in the data structure associated with
surface 106 or 110 with colors associated with corresponding
coordinates within each frame of the subsequent plurality of
frames. For example, the media guidance application may extract
colors of the previously determined edges of surface 106 or 110 in
the video frames subsequent to video frame 102 being displayed on
the user device. In such examples, the media guidance application
may also determine colors of other points of surface 106 or 110 in
video frames subsequent to the frames being displayed on the user
device.
The media guidance application may determine, for each video frame
of the plurality of video frames and based on comparing the colors
associated with coordinates of the edges in the data structure with
the colors associated with corresponding coordinates within each
frame of the plurality of frames, whether the colors associated
with each coordinate of the edges in the data structure match the
colors associated with a respective coordinate associated with the
video frame. Over the plurality of frames being processed, the
media guidance application may determine when the colors of the
points corresponding to the surface 106 or 110 change more than a
threshold.
The media guidance application may add the advertisement to those
video frames where the colors associated with each coordinate of
the edges in the data structure match the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame.
The media guidance application may refrain from adding the
advertisement to those video frames where the colors associated
with each coordinate of the edges in the data structure do not
match the colors associated with a respective coordinate associated
with the video frame.
For example, the media guidance application may determine points
that constitute edges of a surface 106 and 110 and points that
constitute the center of a surface. The media guidance application
may determine whether the color of the points at the center changes
from the color of the points at the edges for more than a
predetermined threshold.
The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to
the video frame being displayed on the user device, to determine
for how long the color on the edges of the detected surface of
"water" in the video frames matches the color of the points in the
center of the surface of "water". The media guidance application
may determine how long the color on the edges of the detected
surface is similar to the color of the points in the center by
determining a number of frames for which the difference in color
stays below a predetermined threshold. In some embodiments, the
media guidance application may determine that a difference in color
may be below a threshold difference for 50 frames, which is greater
than a predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upon determining that
the color difference between the points at the center and the
points at the edges is below a predetermined threshold of
difference for a predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the
media guidance application may insert the selected advertisement
into the frame so that the advertisement appears on that surface of
the "water." In case the color difference is not below a particular
threshold for the particular predetermined threshold of time (e.g.,
25 frames), the media guidance application may refrain from
inserting the advertisement on the surface as that may interrupt
content important for the user.
The amount of content available to users in any given content
delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire
a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to
efficiently navigate content selections and easily identify content
that they may desire. An application that provides such guidance is
referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or,
sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance
application.
Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms
depending on the content for which they provide guidance. One
typical type of media guidance application is an interactive
television program guide. Interactive television program guides
(sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known
guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to
navigate among and locate many types of content or media assets.
Interactive media guidance applications may generate graphical user
interface screens that enable a user to navigate among, locate and
select content. As referred to herein, the terms "media asset" and
"content" should be understood to mean an electronically consumable
user asset, such as television programming, as well as pay-per-view
programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems),
Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadable content,
Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, pictures,
rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books,
electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media, applications,
games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combination of
the same. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among
and locate content. As referred to herein, the term "multimedia"
should be understood to mean content that utilizes at least two
different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,
images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be
recorded, played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices,
but can also be part of a live performance.
The media guidance application and/or any instructions for
performing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded
on computer readable media. Computer readable media includes any
media capable of storing data. The computer readable media may be
transitory, including, but not limited to, propagating electrical
or electromagnetic signals, or may be non-transitory including, but
not limited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or
storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD,
CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, Random Access
Memory ("RAM"), etc.
With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed
wireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment
devices on which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein,
the phrase "user equipment device," "user equipment," "user
device," "electronic device," "electronic equipment," "media
equipment device," or "media device" should be understood to mean
any device for accessing the content described above, such as a
television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver
decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage
device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter
(DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a
connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY
recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet
computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC
media server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationary
telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone,
a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming
machine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment,
computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the
same. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a
front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple front
screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the user
equipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear
facing camera. On these user equipment devices, users may be able
to navigate among and locate the same content available through a
television. Consequently, media guidance may be available on these
devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for content
available only through a television, for content available only
through one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or
for content available both through a television and one or more of
the other types of user equipment devices. The media guidance
applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e.,
provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients
on user equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may
implement media guidance applications are described in more detail
below.
One of the functions of the media guidance application is to
provide media guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the
phrase "media guidance data" or "guidance data" should be
understood to mean any data related to content or data used in
operating the guidance application. For example, the guidance data
may include program information, guidance application settings,
user preferences, user profile information, media listings,
media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast
channels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental
control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category
information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or
providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition,
high definition, 3D, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites,
and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to
navigate among and locate desired content selections.
FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to
provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3
may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or
platform. While the displays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full
screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over
content being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access
content information by selecting a selectable option provided in a
display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a
hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE
button) on a remote control or other user input interface or
device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance
application may provide a display screen with media guidance data
organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a
grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category
(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of
programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other
organization criteria.
FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200
arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different
types of content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid
202 with: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204,
where each channel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the
column) identifies a different channel or content type available;
and (2) a row of time identifiers 206, where each time identifier
(which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of
programming. Grid 202 also includes cells of program listings, such
as program listing 208, where each listing provides the title of
the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time.
With a user input device, a user can select program listings by
moving highlight region 210. Information relating to the program
listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided in program
information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, the
program title, the program description, the time the program is
provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if
applicable), the program's rating, and other desired
information.
In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g.,
content that is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user
equipment devices at a predetermined time and is provided according
to a schedule), the media guidance application also provides access
to non-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user
equipment device at any time and is not provided according to a
schedule). Non-linear programming may include content from
different content sources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD),
Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.),
locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any user equipment
device described above or other storage device), or other
time-independent content. On-demand content may include movies or
any other content provided by a particular content provider (e.g.,
HBO On Demand providing "The Sopranos" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm").
HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P.
et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks
owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web
events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available
on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content through an
Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).
Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programming
including on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, and
Internet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance
data for content from different types of content sources is
sometimes referred to as a "mixed-media" display. Various
permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be
displayed that are different than display 200 may be based on user
selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of
only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast
listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 214, 216, and 218 are
shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 202 to
indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a
display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or
Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings for
these content types may be included directly in grid 202.
Additional media guidance data may be displayed in response to the
user selecting one of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an
arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a
similar manner as selecting navigational icons 220.)
Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region
226. Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview
programs that are currently available, will be available, or were
available to the user. The content of video region 222 may
correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings
displayed in grid 202. Grid displays including a video region are
sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG
displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail
in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003
and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which
are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application
display screens of the embodiments described herein.
Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types of
content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance
application features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200
(and other display screens described herein), or may be invoked by
a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or
assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options
within options region 226 may concern features related to program
listings in grid 202 or may include options available from a main
menu display. Features related to program listings may include
searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program,
recording a program, enabling series recording of a program,
setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program,
or other features. Options available from a main menu display may
include search options, VOD options, parental control options,
Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronization
options, second screen device options, options to access various
types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a
premium service, options to edit a user's profile, options to
access a browse overlay, or other options.
The media guidance application may be personalized based on a
user's preferences. A personalized media guidance application
allows a user to customize displays and features to create a
personalized "experience" with the media guidance application. This
personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input
these customizations and/or by the media guidance application
monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences.
Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging
in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application.
Customization of the media guidance application may be made in
accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include
varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font
size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,
only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channels
based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of
channels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features
(e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users,
recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, customized
presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentation of social
media content, e-mail, electronically delivered articles, etc.) and
other desired customizations.
The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user
profile information or may automatically compile user profile
information. The media guidance application may, for example,
monitor the content the user accesses and/or other interactions the
user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the
media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user
profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other
web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.Tivo.com,
from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from
other interactive applications the user accesses, from another user
equipment device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information
about the user from other sources that the media guidance
application may access. As a result, a user can be provided with a
unified guidance application experience across the user's different
user equipment devices. This type of user experience is described
in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additional
personalized media guidance application features are described in
greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication
No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.
7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002,
which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their
entireties.
Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown
in FIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302
for content information organized based on content type, genre,
and/or other organization criteria. In display 300, television
listings option 304 is selected, thus providing listings 306, 308,
310, and 312 as broadcast program listings. In display 300 the
listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still
images from the content, video clip previews, live video from the
content, or other types of content that indicate to a user the
content being described by the media guidance data in the listing.
Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to
provide further information about the content associated with the
listing. For example, listing 308 may include more than one
portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316. Media
portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to view
content in full-screen or to view information related to the
content displayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for
the channel that the video is displayed on).
The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing
306 is larger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all
the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different
sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to
the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the content
provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods
for graphically accentuating content listings are discussed in, for
example, Yates, U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
Users may access content and the media guidance application (and
its display screens described above and below) from one or more of
their user equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment
of illustrative user equipment device 400. More specific
implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in
connection with FIG. 5. User equipment device 400 may receive
content and data via input/output (hereinafter "I/O") path 402. I/O
path 402 may provide content (e.g., broadcast programming,
on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a
local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other
content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includes
processing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may
be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable
data using I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry
404 (and specifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more
communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be
provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are
shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the
drawing.
Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing
circuitry such as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein,
processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based
on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal
processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),
etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core,
quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or
supercomputer. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be
distributed across multiple separate processors or processing
units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units
(e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different
processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7
processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executes
instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory
(i.e., storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be
instructed by the media guidance application to perform the
functions discussed above and below. For example, the media
guidance application may provide instructions to control circuitry
404 to generate the media guidance displays. In some
implementations, any action performed by control circuitry 404 may
be based on instructions received from the media guidance
application.
In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may
include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a
guidance application server or other networks or servers. The
instructions for carrying out the above mentioned functionality may
be stored on the guidance application server. Communications
circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital
network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a
telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for
communications with other equipment, or any other suitable
communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the
Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths
(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). In
addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that
enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or
communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from
each other (described in more detail below).
Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408
that is part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the
phrase "electronic storage device" or "storage device" should be
understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer
software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only
memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD)
recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD)
recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR,
sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR), solid state
devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or
any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any
combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used to store various
types of content described herein as well as media guidance data
described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to
launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based
storage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplement
storage 408 or instead of storage 408.
Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and
tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more
MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry,
high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video
circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry
(e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to
MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry
404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and
downconverting content into the preferred output format of the user
equipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analog
converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for
converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and
encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to
receive and to display, to play, or to record content. The tuning
and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data.
The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning,
video generating, encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting,
scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using
software running on one or more general purpose or specialized
processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous
tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions,
picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,
etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from user
equipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including
multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 408.
A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user
input interface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable
user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad,
keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice
recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412
may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other
elements of user equipment device 400. For example, display 412 may
be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances,
user input interface 410 may be integrated with or combined with
display 412. Display 412 may be one or more of a monitor, a
television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device,
amorphous silicon display, low temperature poly silicon display,
electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, active matrix
display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathode
ray tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescent
display, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,
thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,
surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser
television, carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric
modulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying
visual images. In some embodiments, display 412 may be
HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display,
and the interactive media guidance application and any suitable
content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may
generate the output to the display 412. The video card may offer
various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D
graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to
connect multiple monitors. The video card may be any processing
circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry 404. The
video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.
Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of
user equipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio
component of videos and other content displayed on display 412 may
be played through speakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may
be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and
outputs the audio via speakers 414.
The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable
architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application
wholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an
approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g.,
in storage 408), and data for use by the application is downloaded
on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an
Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control
circuitry 404 may retrieve instructions of the application from
storage 408 and process the instructions to generate any of the
displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions,
control circuitry 404 may determine what action to perform when
input is received from input interface 410. For example, movement
of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated by the processed
instructions when input interface 410 indicates that an up/down
button was selected.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a
client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin
client implemented on user equipment device 400 is retrieved
on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the user
equipment device 400. In one example of a client-server based
guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs a web browser that
interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the
remote server may store the instructions for the application in a
storage device. The remote server may process the stored
instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) and
generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device
may receive the displays generated by the remote server and may
display the content of the displays locally on equipment device
400. This way, the processing of the instructions is performed
remotely by the server while the resulting displays are provided
locally on equipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive
inputs from the user via input interface 410 and transmit those
inputs to the remote server for processing and generating the
corresponding displays. For example, equipment device 400 may
transmit a communication to the remote server indicating that an
up/down button was selected via input interface 410. The remote
server may process instructions in accordance with that input and
generate a display of the application corresponding to the input
(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated
display is then transmitted to equipment device 400 for
presentation to the user.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded
and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual
machine (run by control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the
guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange
Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 404 as part of a
suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control
circuitry 404. For example, the guidance application may be an EBIF
application. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be
defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run
by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by
control circuitry 404. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those
employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the
guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted
in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets
of a program.
User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system
500 of FIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer
equipment 504, wireless user communications device 506, or any
other type of user equipment suitable for accessing content, such
as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may
be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user
equipment devices, and may be substantially similar to user
equipment devices described above. User equipment devices, on which
a media guidance application may be implemented, may function as a
standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various
network configurations of devices may be implemented and are
discussed in more detail below.
A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system
features described above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be
classified solely as user television equipment 502, user computer
equipment 504, or a wireless user communications device 506. For
example, user television equipment 502 may, like some user computer
equipment 504, be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet
content, while user computer equipment 504 may, like some
television equipment 502, include a tuner allowing for access to
television programming. The media guidance application may have the
same layout on various different types of user equipment or may be
tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For
example, on user computer equipment 504, the guidance application
may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another
example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless
user communications devices 506.
In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of
user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may
utilize more than one type of user equipment device and also more
than one of each type of user equipment device.
In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user television
equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user
communications device 506) may be referred to as a "second screen
device." For example, a second screen device may supplement content
presented on a first user equipment device. The content presented
on the second screen device may be any suitable content that
supplements the content presented on the first device. In some
embodiments, the second screen device provides an interface for
adjusting settings and display preferences of the first device. In
some embodiments, the second screen device is configured for
interacting with other second screen devices or for interacting
with a social network. The second screen device can be located in
the same room as the first device, a different room from the first
device but in the same house or building, or in a different
building from the first device.
The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media
guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote
devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as
channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the
guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations,
display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For
example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example,
the web site www.Tivo.com on their personal computer at their
office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's
in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer
equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired.
Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the
guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of
whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment
device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings
input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance
application.
The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network
514. Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment
504, and wireless user communications device 506 are coupled to
communications network 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and
512, respectively. Communications network 514 may be one or more
networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile
voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), cable network,
public switched telephone network, or other types of communications
network or combinations of communications networks. Paths 508, 510,
and 512 may separately or together include one or more
communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic
path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications
(e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other
wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless
communications path or combination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn
with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment
shown in FIG. 5 it is a wireless path and paths 508 and 510 are
drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although
these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with
the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these
communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment
devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via
communication paths, such as those described above in connection
with paths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range
point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394
cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x,
etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless
paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG,
INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each
other directly through an indirect path via communications network
514.
System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data
source 518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication
paths 520 and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any
of the communication paths described above in connection with paths
508, 510, and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and
media guidance data source 518 may be exchanged over one or more
communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more
than one of each of content source 516 and media guidance data
source 518, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid
overcomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of these
sources are discussed below.) If desired, content source 516 and
media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as one source
device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 with
user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as through
communications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and
518 may communicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504,
and 506 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described
above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512.
System 500 may also include an advertisement source 524 coupled to
communications network 514 via a communications path 526. Path 526
may include any of the communication paths described above in
connection with paths 508, 510, and 512. Advertisement source 524
may include advertisement logic to determine which advertisements
to transmit to specific users and under which circumstances. For
example, a cable operator may have the right to insert
advertisements during specific time slots on specific channels.
Thus, advertisement source 524 may transmit advertisements to users
during those time slots. As another example, advertisement source
may target advertisements based on the demographics of users known
to view a particular show (e.g., teenagers viewing a reality show).
As yet another example, advertisement source may provide different
advertisements depending on the location of the user equipment
viewing a media asset (e.g., east coast or west coast).
In some embodiments, advertisement source 524 may be configured to
maintain user information including advertisement-suitability
scores associated with user in order to provide targeted
advertising. Additionally or alternatively, a server associated
with advertisement source 524 may be configured to store raw
information that may be used to derive advertisement-suitability
scores. In some embodiments, advertisement source 524 may transmit
a request to another device for the raw information and calculate
the advertisement-suitability scores. Advertisement source 524 may
update advertisement-suitability scores for specific users (e.g.,
first subset, second subset, or third subset of users) and transmit
an advertisement of the target product to appropriate users.
Content source 516 may include one or more types of content
distribution equipment including a television distribution
facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility,
programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC,
ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or
servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other
content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National
Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the
American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned
by the Home Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the
originator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast
provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., an
on-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of
broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Content source 516 may
include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers,
Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other
providers of content. Content source 516 may also include a remote
media server used to store different types of content (including
video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of
the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage
of content, and providing remotely stored content to user equipment
are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al.,
U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, which is hereby
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data,
such as the media guidance data described above. Media guidance
data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any
suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application
may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that
receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous
feed or trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guidance
data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel
sideband, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band
digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission
technique. Program schedule data and other media guidance data may
be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital
television channels.
In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source
518 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server
approach. For example, a user equipment device may pull media
guidance data from a server, or a server may push media guidance
data to a user equipment device. In some embodiments, a guidance
application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate
sessions with source 518 to obtain guidance data when needed, e.g.,
when the guidance data is out of date or when the user equipment
device receives a request from the user to receive data. Media
guidance may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable
frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of
time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request
from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 may
provide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidance
application itself or software updates for the media guidance
application.
In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer
data. For example, the viewer data may include current and/or
historical user activity information (e.g., what content the user
typically watches, what times of day the user watches content,
whether the user interacts with a social network, at what times the
user interacts with a social network to post information, what
types of content the user typically watches (e.g., pay TV or free
TV), mood, brain activity information, etc.). The media guidance
data may also include subscription data. For example, the
subscription data may identify to which sources or services a given
user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the given user
has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,
whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user
has added a premium level of services, whether the user has
increased Internet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data
and/or the subscription data may identify patterns of a given user
for a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may
include a model (e.g., a survivor model) used for generating a
score that indicates a likelihood a given user will terminate
access to a service/source. For example, the media guidance
application may process the viewer data with the subscription data
using the model to generate a value or score that indicates a
likelihood of whether the given user will terminate access to a
particular service or source. In particular, a higher score may
indicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminate
access to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the
media guidance application may generate promotions that entice the
user to keep the particular service or source indicated by the
score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.
Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone
applications implemented on user equipment devices. For example,
the media guidance application may be implemented as software or a
set of executable instructions which may be stored in storage 408,
and executed by control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device
400. In some embodiments, media guidance applications may be
client-server applications where only a client application resides
on the user equipment device, and server application resides on a
remote server. For example, media guidance applications may be
implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry
404 of user equipment device 400 and partially on a remote server
as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 518)
running on control circuitry of the remote server. When executed by
control circuitry of the remote server (such as media guidance data
source 518), the media guidance application may instruct the
control circuitry to generate the guidance application displays and
transmit the generated displays to the user equipment devices. The
server application may instruct the control circuitry of the media
guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on the user
equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry of
the receiving user equipment to generate the guidance application
displays.
Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment
devices 502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT
content delivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including
any user equipment device described above, to receive content that
is transferred over the Internet, including any content described
above, in addition to content received over cable or satellite
connections. OTT content is delivered via an Internet connection
provided by an Internet service provider (ISP), but a third party
distributes the content. The ISP may not be responsible for the
viewing abilities, copyrights, or redistribution of the content,
and may only transfer IP packets provided by the OTT content
provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE,
NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IP packets.
Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is a trademark
owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC.
OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively provide
media guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or
media guidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media
guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based
applications), or the content can be displayed by media guidance
applications stored on the user equipment device.
Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number of
approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment
devices and sources of content and guidance data may communicate
with each other for the purpose of accessing content and providing
media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in
any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing
other approaches for delivering content and providing media
guidance. The following four approaches provide specific
illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 5.
In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each
other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate
with each other directly via short-range point-to-point
communication schemes described above, via indirect paths through a
hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via
communications network 514. Each of the multiple individuals in a
single home may operate different user equipment devices on the
home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media
guidance information or settings to be communicated between the
different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable
for users to maintain consistent media guidance application
settings on different user equipment devices within a home network,
as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent
Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types
of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate
with each other to transmit content. For example, a user may
transmit content from user computer equipment to a portable video
player or portable music player.
In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user
equipment by which they access content and obtain media guidance.
For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by
in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a
media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For
example, users may access an online media guidance application on a
website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device
such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set
various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings)
on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home
equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment
directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on
the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user
equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices
are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for
example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25,
2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and
outside a home can use their media guidance application to
communicate directly with content source 516 to access content.
Specifically, within a home, users of user television equipment 502
and user computer equipment 504 may access the media guidance
application to navigate among and locate desirable content. Users
may also access the media guidance application outside of the home
using wireless user communications devices 506 to navigate among
and locate desirable content.
In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloud
computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud
computing environment, various types of computing services for
content sharing, storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites
or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of
network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as
"the cloud." For example, the cloud can include a collection of
server computing devices, which may be located centrally or at
distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various
types of users and devices connected via a network such as the
Internet via communications network 514. These cloud resources may
include one or more content sources 516 and one or more media
guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, the
remote computing sites may include other user equipment devices,
such as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,
and wireless user communications device 506. For example, the other
user equipment devices may provide access to a stored copy of a
video or a streamed video. In such embodiments, user equipment
devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating
with a central server.
The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage,
content sharing, or social networking services, among other
examples, as well as access to any content described above, for
user equipment devices. Services can be provided in the cloud
through cloud computing service providers, or through other
providers of online services. For example, the cloud-based services
can include a content storage service, a content sharing site, a
social networking site, or other services via which user-sourced
content is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices.
These cloud-based services may allow a user equipment device to
store content to the cloud and to receive content from the cloud
rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-stored
content.
A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,
digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones,
and handheld computing devices, to record content. The user can
upload content to a content storage service on the cloud either
directly, for example, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless
user communications device 506 having content capture feature.
Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to a user
equipment device, such as user computer equipment 504. The user
equipment device storing the content uploads the content to the
cloud using a data transmission service on communications network
514. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself is a
cloud resource, and other user equipment devices can access the
content directly from the user equipment device on which the user
stored the content.
Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using,
for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop
application, a mobile application, and/or any combination of access
applications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloud
client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or
the user equipment device may have some functionality without
access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running
on the user equipment device may be cloud applications, i.e.,
applications delivered as a service over the Internet, while other
applications may be stored and run on the user equipment device. In
some embodiments, a user device may receive content from multiple
cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a user device can
stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from
a second cloud resource. Or a user device can download content from
multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some
embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloud resources for
processing operations such as the processing operations performed
by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.
As referred herein, the term "in response to" refers to initiated
as a result of. For example, a first action being performed in
response to a second action may include interstitial steps between
the first action and the second action. As referred herein, the
term "directly in response to" refers to caused by. For example, a
first action being performed directly in response to a second
action may not include interstitial steps between the first action
and the second action.
FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
dynamically inserting advertisements in a media asset, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 600 may
be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed
to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance application). In
addition, one or more steps of process 600 may be incorporated into
or combined with one or more steps of any other process or
embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-9).
Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 404 identifies a
plurality of points in a video frame of the media asset. For
example, the control circuitry may retrieve a video frame (e.g.,
video frame 102) from storage 408. In some embodiments, the control
circuitry may retrieve the video frame from a remote server (e.g.,
a server associated with media content source 516 and/or media
guidance data source 518).
At 604, control circuitry 404 detects a color associated with each
point of the plurality of points. For example, the control
circuitry may determine the colors of the plurality of points,
stored in storage 408, using a predetermined color encoding scheme.
In some embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the colors
associated with points from a remote server (e.g., a server
associated with media content source 516 and/or media guidance data
source 518).
At 606, control circuitry 404 calculates a change in color between
each point of the plurality of points. For example, the control
circuitry may retrieve the color associated with each point in the
plurality of points from storage 408. The colors may be stored in
one of many encoding schemes. Processing circuitry 406 may compare
the different component colors of each point in the plurality of
points with other points in the plurality of points.
At 608, control circuitry 404 compares the change in color between
each point of the plurality of points within a threshold. The
processing circuitry 406 may compare the calculated difference in
color between the first point and the second point with a
predetermined threshold stored in storage 408.
At 610, control circuitry 404 identifies, based on the comparing,
an area within a frame that constitutes a surface. Based on the
comparing of the color values of the plurality of points, the
control circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 to group points
together based on measured differences in colors. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may store the grouped
points in a data structure at storage 408. In some embodiments, the
control circuitry may store the grouped points on a remote server
(e.g., a server associated with media content source 516 and/or
media guidance data source 518).
At 612, control circuitry 404 selects an advertisement to be placed
on the surface. Based on the surface identified, the control
circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 to select an appropriate
advertisement to be placed on the surface from storage 408. In some
embodiments, the control circuitry may select an advertisement
stored on a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media
content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518). In some
embodiments, the control circuitry may display the advertisement on
video frame 102 displayed on display 412.
FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
dynamically inserting advertisements in a media asset, in
accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 700 may
be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed
to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance application). In
addition, one or more steps of process 700 may be incorporated into
or combined with one or more steps of any other process or
embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 6 and 8-9).
The process 700 begins at 702, when the control circuitry 404
selects a first plurality of points in a video frame of a media
asset. For example, the control circuitry may retrieve a video
frame (e.g., video frame 102) from storage 408. In some
embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the video frame
from a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media content
source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).
At 704, the control circuitry 404 detects a color associated with
each point of the first plurality of points. In some embodiments,
processing circuitry 406 may retrieve the colors of the points in
video frame 102 from storage 408. The colors detected by the
control circuitry may depend on the objects present in video frame
102. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the
colors associated with points from a remote server (e.g., a server
associated with media content source 516 and/or media guidance data
source 518).
At 706, the control circuitry 404 selects a first point in the
first plurality of points. The control circuitry may use processing
circuitry 406 to select a first point in the first plurality of
points. The selection of the point may be based on the iteration
process. For example, the control circuitry may start the iteration
with a top-right corner and proceed in a clockwise direction. It
should be noted that different starting points may be used in this
process.
At 708, the control circuitry 404 calculates a distance between the
first point and other points in the first plurality of points. For
example, the control circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 to
select a first point in a video frame (e.g. video frame 102) of a
movie "Titanic" that depicts the ocean as part of the frame. Other
points in the first plurality of points may include points directly
connected to the first point or at a certain distance from the
first point.
At 710, the control circuitry 404 selects a second plurality of
points from the other points in the first plurality of points,
wherein the second plurality of points comprises points within a
threshold distance of the first point. The control circuitry may
use processing circuitry 406 to determine points that are within a
predetermined threshold distance from the first point in a video
frame (e.g. video frame 102). The control circuitry may store the
second plurality of points at storage 408. In some embodiments,
control circuitry may store the second plurality of points on a
remote server (e.g., a server associated with media content source
516 and/or media guidance data source 518).
At 712, the control circuitry 404 calculates a change in color
between the first point and each point of the second plurality of
points. Specifically, the control circuitry may use processing
circuitry 406 to calculate a change in color between the first
point and each point of the set second plurality of points. In some
embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve colors associated
with the second plurality of points from storage 408. In some
embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the colors
associated with the second plurality of points from a remote server
(e.g., a server associated with media content source 516 and/or
media guidance data source 518).
At 714, the control circuitry 404 compares the calculated change in
color between the selected point and each point in the set of
points with a threshold color change. In some embodiments, the
control circuitry may retrieve a threshold color change from
storage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may
retrieve the threshold color change from a remote server (e.g., a
server associated with media content source 516 and/or media
guidance data source 518).
At 716, the control circuitry 404 generates, based on the
comparing, a subset of points that are within the threshold color
change. The control circuitry may group together the points that
are within a predetermined threshold color change. Particularly,
the control circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 to generate,
based on the comparing, a subset of points that are within the
threshold color change. In some embodiments, the control circuitry
may save the grouped points at storage 408. In some embodiments,
the control circuitry may save the grouped points at a remote
server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516
and/or media guidance data source 518).
At 718, the control circuitry 404 generates, based on the subset of
points, a data structure representing a surface. Particularly, the
control circuitry may generate, based on the subset of points, a
data structure representing a surface. For example, the processing
circuitry 406 may associate the grouped together points in the
second plurality of points to represent a surface. The data
structure may be of the form of multidimensional array or an object
of a defined class surface. In some embodiments, the control
circuitry may store the data structure representing the surface in
storage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may
retrieve the advertisement from a remote server (e.g., a server
associated with media content source 516 and/or media guidance data
source 518).
At 720, the control circuitry 404 selects, based on the data
structure, an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for
display with the video frame. Particularly, the control circuitry
may select, based on the data structure representing the surface,
an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for display with
the video frame. For example, the processing circuitry 406 may
determine, from a set of advertisements, the most suitable
advertisement to be placed on the determined surface. In some
embodiments, control circuitry may retrieve select advertisements
from advertisements stored in storage 408 to determine the most
appropriate advertisement to be placed. In some embodiments, the
control circuitry may retrieve the advertisement from a remote
server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516
and/or media guidance data source 518).
At 722, the control circuitry 404 generates for display the
advertisement so that it appears on the surface. For example, the
processing circuitry 406 may display the selected advertisement on
an ocean surface determined in video frame 102 of the movie
"Titanic" by the processing circuitry 406 when the particular frame
is displayed on the screen of the user device. For example, the
processing circuitry 406 may generate for display the advertisement
with the ship on the ocean's surface 110 in video frame 108. In
some embodiments, the control circuitry may display the
advertisement on video frame 102 displayed on display 412.
FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
determining a type of surface in a video frame of a media asset and
displaying an advertisement based on the determined type of
surface, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
Process 800 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g. in a
manner instructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance
application). In addition, one or more steps of process 800 may be
incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any other
process or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 6,
7, and 9).
Process 800 begins at 802, where control circuitry 404 detects a
color associated with each surface of a plurality of surfaces in a
video frame. The color of each surface is detected based on the
color of each of the points that comprise the data structure of the
surface. For example, the media guidance application may detect a
color associated with surface 110 of video frame 108 based on the
color of the points that constitute the surface. In some
embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a range of
colors in the surface based on the colors associated with various
points of surface 110 in video frame 108.
At 804, the control circuitry 804 compares each detected color of
each surface to a color range of surfaces. The media guidance
application compares the detected color or the range of detected
colors to a color range of surfaces. Each color in the color range
may be associated with a particular surface. For example, the color
sky blue may be associated with the sky and the colors dark and
navy blue may be associated with the water.
At decision block 806, the control circuitry 404 determines whether
there is a surface corresponding to the detected color. The media
guidance application may search the color ranges to determine if
the color associated with the surface corresponds to a color in the
color range of surfaces. In case the color of the surface
corresponds to a color in the color range, control circuitry 404
proceeds to 810 to detect a shape associated with the surface. In
case the color of the surface does not correspond to a color in the
color range of surfaces, the control circuitry 404 proceeds to 802
to detect a different color associated with a different surface
part of video frame 102.
At 810, control circuitry 404 detects a shape associated with the
surface. The media guidance application may determine whether
surface 110 is associated with a shape. For example, the media
guidance application may detect the shape of waves associated with
surface 110 of video frame 108.
At 812, the control circuitry 404 compares the detected shape of
the surface to a shape range of surfaces. The media guidance
application compares the shape of the waves of surface 110 in video
frame 108 to a range of shapes of various surfaces.
At 814, the control circuitry 404 determines a type of the surface
based on the detected color and shape. The media guidance
application determines that surface 110, having the shape of waves
and a dark blue color is a surface of a water body (e.g. ocean) in
video frame 108.
At 816, the control circuitry 404 retrieves advertisements based on
the surface. Based on determining that surface 110 or video frame
108 is a water body (e.g. ocean), the media guidance application
may extract an advertisement from the set of available
advertisements that may be associated with water. Some examples of
such an advertisement may be related to water-skiing, jet-skiing,
snorkeling, cruises, water parks, etc.
At decision block 818, the control circuitry 404 determines whether
there is an object displayed on the surface. The media guidance
application may determine if the surface of the water may have an
object associated with it. For example, the surface of water may
have an object of a ship, a boat, an aquatic animal or other
objects of the like. In case the media guidance application detects
an object on detected surface 110 in video frame 108, the media
guidance application proceeds to 820 to display the selected
advertisement on the detected object. In case the media guidance
application does not determine the presence of an object on the
surface, the media guidance application displays the selected
advertisement on surface 110 in video frame 108.
At 820, the control circuitry 404 displays the retrieved
advertisement in the object. The media guidance application may
display the selected advertisement on the object associated with
surface 110 of video frame 108. For example, the media guidance
application may display the selected advertisement of snorkeling
from the set of available advertisements on an object of an aquatic
animal that may be associated with surface 110 of video frame
108.
At 822, the control circuitry 404 displays the retrieved
advertisement on the surface. The media guidance application may
display the selected advertisement of snorkeling, from a list of
available advertisements, on the surface of the surface 110 in
video frame 108 when the media guidance application may determine
that an object is not associated with surface 110.
FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for
determining whether to add advertisements to video frames of a
media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.
Process 900 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g. in a
manner instructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidance
application). Control circuitry 404 may be part of the remote
server being separated from the user equipment device by way of
communication network 514. In addition, one or more steps of
process 900 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more
steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described in
relation to FIGS. 6-8).
Process 900 begins at 902, where control circuitry 404 compares
coordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset of
points with coordinates of other points with the subset of points.
The media guidance application compares the coordinates of points
that comprise surface 110 of video frame 108. The points
representing the surface may be stored in a data structure like a
multidimensional array or an object of the class surface.
At 904, the control circuitry 404 determines, based on comparing
the coordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset
of points with the coordinates of other points with the subset of
points, the edges of the surface. Based on the comparing, the media
guidance application may determine the points in the surface that
constitute the edges of the surface. The points constituting the
edges may be stored separately in the multidimensional array data
structure of surface 110 of video frame 108.
At 906, the control circuitry 404 retrieves a plurality of frames
that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent to the video frame.
For example, the media guidance application may process frames of a
movie "Titanic", subsequent to the current frame that is about to
be displayed on the user device.
At 908, the control circuitry 404 compares colors associated with
coordinates of the edges in the data structure with colors
associated with corresponding cording within each of the plurality
of frames.
At decision block 910, the control circuitry 404 determines whether
the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges in the data
structure match the colors associated with a respective coordinate
associated with the video frame.
At 912, the control circuitry 404 adds the advertisement to those
frames where the colors associated with each coordinate of the
edges in the data structure match the colors associated with a
respective coordinate associated with the video frame.
At 914, the control circuitry 404 refrains from adding the
advertisement to those frames where the colors associated with each
coordinate of the edges in the data structure do not match the
colors associated with a respective coordinate associated with
video frame 102.
For example, the media guidance application may determine points
that constitute edges of a surface 110 of video frame 108, and
points that constitute the center of a surface 110 of video frame
108. The media guidance application may determine whether the color
of the points at the center changes from the color of the points at
the edges for more than a predetermined threshold.
The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to
video frame 108 being displayed on the user device, to determine
for how long the color on the edges of the detected surface of
"water" in the video frames matches the color of the points in the
center of the surface of "water". The media guidance application
may determine how long the color on the edges of the detected
surface is similar to the color of the points in the center by
determining a number of frames for which the difference in color
stays below a predetermined threshold. In some examples, the media
guidance application may determine that a difference in color may
be below a threshold difference for 50 frames, which is greater
than a predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upon determining that
the color difference between the points at the center and the
points at the edges is below a predetermined threshold of
difference for a predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the
media guidance application may insert the selected advertisement on
that surface of the "water" in frames of the movie "Titanic". In
case the color difference is not below a particular threshold for
the particular predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the
media guidance application may refrain from inserting the
advertisement on the surface as that may interrupt content
important for the user.
It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIGS. 6-9 may
be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,
the descriptions described in relation to the algorithm of FIGS.
6-9 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to further the
purposes of this disclosure. For example, in some embodiments,
several instances of a variable may be evaluated in parallel using
multiple logical processor threads or the algorithm may be enhanced
by incorporating branch prediction. Furthermore, it should be noted
that the process of FIGS. 6-9 may be implemented on a combination
of appropriately configured software and hardware and that any of
the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 4-5 could
be used to implement one or more portions of the process.
The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and
not limiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the
steps of the processes discussed herein may be omitted, modified,
combined, and/or rearranged, and any additional steps may be
performed without departing from the scope of the invention. More
generally, the above disclosure is meant to be exemplary and not
limiting. Only the claims that follow are meant to set bounds as to
what the present invention includes. Furthermore, it should be
noted that the features and limitations described in any one
embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and
flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may be combined
with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done in different
orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods
described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be
noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be
applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or
methods.
While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to
"convention," any such reference is merely for the purpose of
providing context to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure and
does not form any admission as to what constitutes the state of the
art.
* * * * *
References